Council seeks funds to open centre to address region's childcare shortage

Mayor Ben Blain said the council was advocating for an early years centre of excellence.

This would be a partnership between the council, Deakin University and South West TAFE and provide contemporary training facilities and career pathways.

The idea was presented by the council, which is seeking $600,000 in funding for a business case for the centre, to state politicians in Melbourne last month.

"Childcare workers are a huge priority for the council," Cr Blain said.

The council has a wait list of 380 for childcare and a number of private centres say they won't have any available places until 2026.

The Standard reported in December 2023 Warrnambool would have a new state-run childcare centre, which will open in 2028.

Additionally there are plans for at least two other childcare centres in the city - one on Moore Street which would offer more than 100 spots - and one on the corner of Dales and Aberline roads.

This centre would offer 150 places and would be run by Brightstart Early Learning Centre.

Cr Blain said the council was committed to helping address the childcare shortage in Warrnambool and across the south-west.

He said there was a huge shortage of staff.

"Finding the staff for these centres is a huge challenge," he said.

The council outlined a number of challenges in a statement prepared regarding early years workforce and infrastructure.

"Childcare availability impacts the capacity of employers to attract and retain staff," the statement said.

"While some services are in the planning or proposal stage, additional childcare centres starting at a time of chronic staff shortages may compound the issues being experienced at existing childcare centres.

"Staff may be pulled from the current staffing pool across all city/regional services, place more strain on services and decrease the capacity of existing services to meet current capacities."

The council's statement used in advocacy talks said a larger workforce would enable more families to access education and care and support families to work and enable employers to attract staff to vacant positions within the region.

The council's efforts to attract more people to work as early years educators comes after it was revealed Kardinia Early Learning in Timboon would close on June 28, 2024.

About a dozen employees were told they were unlikely to be offered jobs at the provider's three other branches. In that case, Corangamite Shire, which owns the building, is seeking to find a new operator.